Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2004-282837 discloses a power supply device for a vehicle capable of supplying commercial alternating-current (AC) power from a vehicle-mounted power source to an outlet provided inside the vehicle. In the power supply device for the vehicle, power which can be supplied from a high-voltage battery mounted in the vehicle to the outlet via an inverter, that is, allowable power consumption which can be consumed by an electrical product connected to the outlet, is calculated based on a state of charge (SOC) of the high-voltage battery. If the SOC is lower than a predetermined value, the allowable power consumption decreases in a stepwise manner as the SOC decreases.
It is described that, with such a configuration, use of the outlet can be ensured as much as possible while suppressing a reduction in the SOC of the vehicle-mounted power source.
When the SOC of a vehicle-mounted power source is reduced to a predetermined lower limit value, a vehicle-mounted outlet cannot be used. Although it is possible in a hybrid vehicle to allow an outlet to be used by generating power using an internal combustion engine, it is undesirable to start the internal combustion engine to use the outlet. Thus, it is desired to allow the outlet to be used, at least until the vehicle reaches a destination, without starting the internal combustion engine to use the outlet. Although the power supply device for the vehicle described above ensures use of the outlet as much as possible while suppressing a reduction in the SOC of the vehicle-mounted power source, the outlet cannot be used when the SOC is reduced to a predetermined lower limit value.
The present invention has been made to solve such a problem, and one object of the present invention is to provide a hybrid vehicle which allows an outlet to be used until the vehicle reaches a destination, without starting an internal combustion engine to use the outlet.